My origonal kit. Who had this book as a child?

[Mark Daniels]

Who started out with this book? 

anyone still got their first kit?

 

[paul mc c]

I started with the Hamlyn guide to Astronomy,and still have my 60mm Pathescope refractor.

 

[Pete Presland]

I think i have still got a copy of it, somewhere on the bookshelf.  

My old Tasco 4.5" reflector, was passed on to a work colleague a few years back.  I can vividly remember purchasing through my mothers Littlewoods club book.

[Mark Daniels]

Littlewoods catalogue was invaluable. 😀

[cloudsweeper]

Still got mine, but my earliest astro book (many, many years ago) was a fabulous thing with impressions of planetary surfaces including cliffs and such like on Jupiter!  Love to see it again!

Doug.

[bish]

Yes. I bought mine from the school book shop. It was my only new book, the others were old library books acquired from somewhere.

[DaveS]

Still got my Hamlyn and Observer's books, plus my old Prinz 60mm 'scope.

[almcl]

Still got my Observers book (although not the dust jacket) but my first ever was the Golden Book of Astronomy:

[John]

I've still got the Observers Book, an old Phillips Planisphere and my 1st scope - a 1960's Tasco 12TE-5 60mm refractor. Must get it down from the loft and give it a go again

 

 

[Greymouser]

2 minutes ago, John said:

a 1960's Tasco 12TE-5 60mm refractor. Must get it down from the loft and give it a go again

I still have my Hamlyn Guide to Astronomy and my 50mm Greenkat refractor, which funnily enough I just recovered from the nether regions, with the intention of giving it a go again. I was even going to get an adapter so I can use 1.25" eyepieces in it. It seems in decent nick and I just cannot bring myself to bin it. I still have the 6mm; 12.5mm and 20mm H eyepieces. Countless hours trying to find deep sky stuff.   I won't mention the screw in sun filter, for the eyepiece, which is still there too...

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

Still got my Hamlyn and Observer's books, plus my old Prinz 60mm 'scope.

I had these too but They are all long gone

I loved this book. Wore it out nearly.

Not sure if it's still in the loft or if it's "Moon, Mars & Venus" from the same stable up there.

[Oldfort]

I started with H A Rey's "A New Way to  See the Stars".  I still have it.  I moved on to Norton's Star Atlas (15th ed.), which I stll have (and a newer edition).  What a treasure trove of information.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Oldfort

[barkis]

My first acquisition, was a Norton's handbook.  The number of times I thumbed through those pages. The next lot, were the three Burnham's celestial volumes.                                                        Ron.

 

 

[reddoss]

That was my first book as well, but I must have had a later edition as the front covers was different.

 

[r3i]

16 hours ago, Paul M said:

I had these too but They are all long gone

I loved this book. Wore it out nearly.

Not sure if it's still in the loft or if it's "Moon, Mars & Venus" from the same stable up there.

Completely agree it being an excellent book and I did wear my copy out too.  I bought another copy off eBay a few years ago along with the Moon, Mars & Venus book that you also mentioned.

Like many others I also had the Observer's book (a later edition than the one pictured by Mark, I had the one with purple aurora on the cover), and also had the Ladybird Book of the Night Sky- another classic.

[LongJohn54]

21 hours ago, Mark Daniels said:

Who started out with this book? 

anyone still got their first kit?

 

 

I cannot remember my first astronomy book or piece of equipment but I think I've found the other half of your bins 🤣🤣

The text on the eyepiece end says - Binocular Prismatic No2 mkII.  X6 (I've always assumed X6 is the magnification. It seems about right).  The objective is 30mm.

[Mark Daniels]

18 minutes ago, LongJohn54 said:

 

I cannot remember my first astronomy book or piece of equipment but I think I've found the other half of your bins 🤣🤣

The text on the eyepiece end says - Binocular Prismatic No2 mkII.  X6 (I've always assumed X6 is the magnification. It seems about right).  The objective is 30mm.

Lol yep mine are 8x30 and russian. My Dad swears by Russian optics. He has a 6 inch refractor which is russian and the view is very good. This was ideal for gazing as a kid as very light. Used to sellotape it to a camera tripod. Had a go the other evening while walking the dog. Lens still good. Amazing what a good loft clear out uncovers!

[Pete Presland]

19 hours ago, Paul M said:

I had these too but They are all long gone

I loved this book. Wore it out nearly.

Not sure if it's still in the loft or if it's "Moon, Mars & Venus" from the same stable up there.

I had that as well, it got donated to a local astronomy society only a couple of years ago!

[Pete Presland]

My oldest item is this book, nor sure where I got it from though. It comes complete with rather naive childish scribbles on the star charts.

I guess I probably early teens circa 1980.

 

[Paul M]

11 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

My oldest item is this book, nor sure where I got it from though. It comes complete with rather naive childish scribbles on the star charts.

I guess I probably early teens circa 1980.

 

That's another of my early books.

And mine was marked with the planets positions just the same. All that action with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn between Gemini and Leo in the 70's and early 80's  There was a table of planetary ecliptic longitudes in the appendix that took me a while to work out how to use or what it even meant but when I did...Wow! Them's planets them is!

Halcyon days.

[Macavity]

Ah, SPM... My very first (and only, for many years) Astronomy Book!
All those years spent under my pillow. I can still "quote" some bits. 😛

I "graduated" some years later to this one... Still worthy of keeping re.
*photographic* maps of the Stars and Moon... Lists of "DSOs" etc. 😎
 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Macavity

[Paul M]

Somewhere I have a photo of my old bookshelf, books long since donated to the library. I think every book so far mentioned was on that shelf plus many more.

Can't find the photo, I think it was inside one of the books for safekeeping...

[GazOC]

Still got my white cover version of the Observer book, got to admit that I've not opened it in years though. I've still got my original 8x40 binos that I got for Xmas when I was 11 or 12 too

Edited July 8, 2019 by GazOC

[Mark Daniels]

4 hours ago, Macavity said:

Ah, SPM... My very first (and only, for many years) Astronomy Book!
All those years spent under my pillow. I can still "quote" some bits. 😛

I "graduated" some years later to this one... Still worthy of keeping re.
*photographic* maps of the Stars and Moon... Lists of "DSOs" etc. 😎
 

Have a copy of this too somewhere got to find it 👍

[Paul M]

Ah, here it be!

Just about all I have left from the early days. Here is a post from my introductory thread in 2013: